Knicks links: Brooklyn requested New York for opener, report says

John Munson/The Star-LedgerBrooklyn's Barclays Center will host the first meeting between the Knicks and Nets in 2012-2013, but the former's schedule only gets more interesting from there.

The Knicks may or may not embrace their rivalry with the Brooklyn Nets (fans haven't yet agreed if a rivalry exists, previously existed or will exist in the future), but New York City's other team isn't waiting around for approval.

“We asked the league to give us the most dramatic game to open the season. I was obviously for playing the Knicks. I thought it would make for a compelling moment here in New York sports and thankfully (the league) agreed and felt the same way. And here we are.”

For more, here's NJ.com's aggregation of team news from around the web:

• Bondy also wrote about Jeremy Lin's Dec. 17 return to Madison Square Garden, and the Knicks' roadtrip to London: "Lin and the Rockets will visit the Knicks on Dec. 17 and a month later, the Knicks will take on the Pistons in London... While that should be an international event, Lin’s first visit will certainly be the most hyped game of the year... Lin’s first game in New York — which follows a Nov. 23 Rockets-Knicks matchup in Houston — will be as big, if not bigger, than the Knicks’ home opener on Nov. 2 against the Heat... The Nets, not the Knicks, host a nationally-televised game in their new arena on Dec. 25 against the Celtics. The Knicks, who hosted the Celtics last year on Christmas, play at the Staples Center against Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in another high profile game that day."

• As Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal wrote, the Knicks need the Nets in Brooklyn to reclaim the entire city: "The worst thing for the Nets would be a season opener in which Knicks fans infested the Rusty Turtle and turned it into an MSG away from home. This is what happened to Nets games in Jersey, and this is among the reasons they left, and why the team is spending the summer trying to build a hurried loyalty with the borough. There was a free-agency celebration at City Hall, and there are folksy signs around town introducing players like a family moving into the first-floor apartment. Deron Williams is a 'father of four,' and Gerald Wallace is an 'off-season fisherman.' Heading east on the BQE toward Williamsburg there's a hello from recent hire Joe Johnson saying he's a "lifelong Razorback." No disrespect to the University of Arkansas, but nobody in Brooklyn cares. Tell us if Joe gets his pizza at Di Fara or Spumoni Gardens."

• As Nate Taylor of The New York Times wrote, there will be a familiar voice in the building as the Nets and Knicks play on Nov. 1: "After the league announced the schedule, the Nets alerted fans to go their Web site to hear the team’s first broadcast call in Brooklyn from Marv Albert, the Knicks’ play-by-play announcer for more than three decades. Albert will be TNT’s play-by-play announcer in the Nets’ home opener... 'They’ll be talking about this night for years to come as one of the biggest events in New York sports’ illustrious history,' Albert said. 'Brooklyn is back in the big leagues.'"

• The Nets and the Knicks won't be done with each other on Nov. 1, wrote Fred Kerber of the New York Post: "The Battle of the Boroughs also will have installments on Dec. 11 in Brooklyn and Dec. 19 plus Jan. 21 at the Garden... The world champion Heat play in the Garden twice, only once in Brooklyn — Wednesday, Jan 30 at 8 p.m. (ESPN game). LeBron James and friends can flash their championship rings in front of Knicks fans Nov. 2 and again March 3 in a rematch of the playoff series first round."

• Ronnie Brewer sees a lot of potential in New York, which is why he signed with the Knicks, Taylor wrote: "Potential means a lot to Ronnie Brewer. That was the word he used multiple times Thursday in explaining why he chose to sign a one-year deal with the Knicks this week... Brewer sees the Knicks building for success now, not the future. He noticed that was why the free agents Marcus Camby, Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd all joined the team earlier this month."